Clinton Morrison starts a three-match suspension for Colchester.
The experienced striker saw red late on in Tuesday night's 2-1 Johnstone's Paint Trophy defeat at Northampton and now misses the games against second-placed Boro, next Saturday's home clash against Carlisle and the subsequent trip to Leyton Orient.
Morrison was recalled to manager Joe Dunne's starting XI as one of seven changes for the cup encounter.
And Dunne is set to return to his strongest XI against Boro, meaning Michael Rose, Brian Wilson, Tom Eastman, Jabo Ibehre, Craig Eastmond, Gavin Massey and Sanchez Watt all come back into contention.
The U's will be looking to get back on track having lost their last two games after a positive start to life under Dunne's stewardship.
David Gray returns to the Stevenage squad.
The defender missed last weekend's 1-0 win over Scunthorpe through suspension after collecting five yellow cards this season.
James Dunne deputised at right-back and should move back into midfield if Gray is recalled.
Centre-half Jon Ashton is still out with Boro now fearing his ongoing Achilles problem may require surgery, while striker Patrick Agyemang remains sidelined by a thigh injury.
Left-back Lee Hills' debut is still on hold for at least another couple of weeks due to a thigh problem and forward Don Cowan is recovering from a hamstring injury.
Stevenage's victory against Scunthorpe lifted them up to second place, their highest-ever position in the Football League.
